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prillman
To assist with his creative goals, Thomas formed Outside Holliewood Productions, LLC in 2016. With the focus on creating "high quality content with reasonable budgets," he has produced (and recorded sound for) several award-winning short films, and two feature films. He also directed his first short film "Stalk" in 2021. This is all leading up to the production of a film project he has been imagining for 30 years.
Reviews
Úsvit (2023)
The best film I saw at 2024 Palm Springs Film Festival
It's a shame this wasn't the Czech Republic's official Oscar submission. I found it an intriguing film and couldn't get enough of it. Part medical mystery, part political thriller, this film features a very strong female lead, and is much better and more involved than the storyline suggests.
The pregnant wife of a rising factory director enjoys her status in a small rural town ripe for modernization. However, the discovery of a dead intersex newborn amongst the factory's expansion puts things on hold days before the factory owner's celebrated arrival. State Army police is called in to investigate, but they have their own agenda. With her medical background, the wife begins her own investigation, with unforeseen consequences. All the while, the threat of the Third Reich is in the air.
Talking with the director in the lobby after the film, I found out it didn't have US distribution yet. I loved it so much, I wished I had the money to distribute it myself. Here's hoping it lands somewhere I can see (or buy) it again and share it.
Psychosynthesis (2020)
Great look, interesting concept... not much else
I was looking forward to watching this film directed by Noam Kroll, who I've "followed" for a few years now. The plot and concept were interesting, and the cinematography itself was great... but I was rather disappointed in it. I felt the movie moved at a glacial pace, with A LOT of breathing space in between and within the scenes. I thought the first interesting thing (besides the concept) didn't occur until almost an hour in, and that's only 10 minutes before it ends. For a 71 minute film, I thought the story was stretched as much as it could've been. I didn't particularly care for the acting, although not a whole lot was required of the actors either. I also found some of the profanity odd (almost forced) in places, like the husband f-bombing his weak, sick wife to get in the car to go to the hospital, rather than (God forbid) helping her. The ending is justifiably ambiguous, but also has at least one major hole (unless I didn't see the fix) relating to the character "getting away with it." Overall, definitely a low-budget film that used the most of its resources, but I felt could've been better and at least a little more interesting.
The Scent of Rain & Lightning (2017)
Great movie, if you actually take the time
This is a film for those audiences that actually take the time and have the patience to experience it, knowing that they will be rewarded. For those that don't, or want everything spoon-fed to them (like another review here), it will be confusing and unrewarding. I've seen it twice as of this writing (Oct 2017), and it was even better the second time around. Everything is spot on, the direction, cinematography, writing, sound, everything. Every role is superbly acted, especially by Maika Monore, Maggie Grace, and Mark Webber. I'm sure it's hard to adapt a novel covering 25 years with many characters' detailed lives into a 100 minute movie, and director Blake Robbins has done an awesome job. (Also, check out his first film "The Sublime and Beautiful".)